The Case of the Watch-Wielding Demi-God
by NoxFox
Summary: Sherlock Holmes has not had a case in three weeks, that is until the infamous God of Mischief appears at his door.


The sky had been grim for some hours and the mood at 221B could only be described as forlorn. Nothing had happened in the past three weeks. Not one damned thing and Holmes' stash of cocaine had ran out that very afternoon. Then he heard a knock.

Rushing to the window, like a feline that has spotted a mouse, Sherlock cracked open the curtains and pushed one eye into the gap. The figure standing outside was tall. There was nothing remarkable about his features. From what Holmes could tell, he was a reasonably comfortable gentleman, dressed in a new tweed suit from Saville Row. His demeanour, even from such a distance, exhumed pride. The only odd thing about him was his hairstyle, which was not quite in with the fashion.

'Sherlock Holmes: consulting detective.' The stranger announced upon his arrival. He said it in a way which was neither a statement nor a question.

'Is there another Sherlock Holmes in London that has a different profession whom you could confuse me with? Please take a seat and state your name and business.'

The stranger took a long glance around the room before casting his eyes upon the well-worn, leather couch. For a few moments he seemed to have a battle of wills with himself before reluctantly taking a seat. Once he had, he crossed one leg over the other and lounged in it as if it were his own personal throne.

Holmes would have been embarrassed about the disarray in the room but he now held a new sense of motivation from the case he would be soon embarking upon. Vials lay on the carpet in myriad states of decomposed spillage. There were stacks upon stacks of books lying open on the table with an equal number of empty tea cups to accompany the densely tobacco filled air in the apartment. The only thing in the room which looked as though it hadn't been carelessly abandoned was Holmes' recently oiled violin, which sat magnanimously in his chair, almost as proud as the owner himself.

'Your reputation precedes you Mr Holmes. Your deductions are meant to be mind-blowing. Though I could be dreadfully mistaken. Apparently a Professor Moriarty has a comparable talent. I could seek his advice…' The stranger's eyes gleamed with a hidden malevolence.

'I should hope not. Your suit indicates that you are a well off man who likes to be in with the times, as for your suit; it does not yet seem a week old. Your shoes are also new, as the price hasn't quite been rubbed off the sole. Your hair is contrary to the two prior facts, suggesting that you're foreign, yet your accent is Received Pronunciation English and sounds distinctly familiar...

'The time on your pocket watch is also incorrect, I saw you check it when you arrived yet you did not make a move to change it. That is the one thing on your person which is not new and possibly linked to your enquiry as a result.

'When I asked you to be seated you seemed particularly uncomfortable, suggesting that you usually sit down last, which would mean that if you're not royalty you certainly have a high position in society, which is also confirmed by your proud demeanour. How am I doing?'

'Rather well I must say. Loki Laufeyson. The watch is almost the whole of my enquiry. May I begin?' Loki smirked, 'Or would you like my assessment of you?'

'You may begin.' Sherlock said stiffly. _He _was the consulting detective after all not this young dandy. How dare he suggest that he analyse Sherlock Holmes.

Loki did begin, however, anyone who may have been standing in that very room would have overheard a slight snicker before the story began.

'You didn't tell me the main thing about my pocket watch. Did you Sherlock?' Loki smirked.

Sherlock looked dumbstruck. He never missed anything. His detective skills were meticulous. He noticed that it had stopped. He noticed it was old. What had he missed?

'Here you go.' Loki pitched the pocket watch without any prior warning to Sherlock, who deftly caught it. He was astonished.

'That's my pocket watch!'

'Nooooooooo, really? Surely not.' Loki leapt up and leant on the mantelpiece, 'I, wow, I'm so glad I found you. Your detective skills are truly to be marvelled at. What are you going to identify next? Your shoes?' Loki smirked.

'But I had my pocket watch not five minutes ago. It was working and it didn't have all of these scratches on it. It must have aged, goodness knows, a couple of hundred years.'

'Precisely,' said Loki, 'But yes here it is. Good day.' He turned and began to descend the stairs.

'Wait one moment,' Holmes ordered, before he followed Loki outside, managing to catch up with him halfway down the street.

Loki spun around altering his features to act as if he were surprised, 'Mr. Holmes, is it?'

'I don't know _Mr. _Laufeyson but I do expect an explanation.' Holmes' voice rose in contempt.

'Ah but if I recall correctly, your job is a consulting detective, which I confirmed. I also confirmed that you can make accurate deductions. So from that I can only deduce that you can solve your own case.'

'How can I solve my own case when the main suspect refuses to speak to me and plans on disappearing into the clouds?'

'Now that _is_ a good question, Sherlock, and is truer than you can imagine. Would you like me to show you? Though I must warn you; you'll have to have an open mind to even believe it,' Loki intoned.

'I don't think I'll have a problem with that. I do have the greatest mind in Europe, which is what makes me the greatest and only consulting detective.' Sherlock expressed.

Loki nodded in appreciation. He liked people who were sure of themselves unlike his incredibly dim-witted brother. However, he also felt if there were to be only one consulting detective in the world one would automatically assume they be the best. Whereas if you were the best God of Mischief in the universe…well he felt that that was all the explanation needed.

The unlikely companions stood side by side in the street casting furtive glances around them, though it was late in the evening and there was only one lady hurrying along the street to wherever her residence must lie. The streetlamps had long ago been lit due to the grey stormy conditions and they flickered warmly, though the two companions were not to notice this, as embroiled in their affair as they were.

'So it is not I, whom you must question, but another man. Though I'm not a man. I'm a demi-god and he's not a man either but a timelord.' Loki uttered, whilst hurrying a pensive Sherlock Holmes down the road.

Eventually the pair rounded a corner leading to a quiet back street where, curiously, a chipped, worn and tremendously blue Police Box stood. Outside of the box, a 960 year old, timelord stood beaming at them. Sadly, he had never before encountered such a know-it-all pair of sociopaths who did not appreciate nor care for his excitable manner.

'So the watch. The literally timey-wimey, witchey- watch. Loki told you about the watch?'

'Well I know that it's mine yet it can't possibly mine, as it has at least two hundred years' worth of wear upon its exterior. That is all I have deduced, as this chap here hasn't taken care to explain how he got it or what you have to do with it. What is your profession Sir?' Sherlock enquired.

'The Doctor. I'm a timelord. I travel the whole of space and time in this little blue box called the TARDIS' He held out a hand and fluttered lithely into a bow, 'Nice to meet you Sherlock.'

'And you…Doctor,' Sherlock's brain was whizzing faster than a carriage being pulled by one hundred cantering horses. It was highly improbable yet not entirely impossible. He'd wait before drawing his conclusions on the matter.

'You know what's funny?' The Doctor articulated, 'You two never asked who. Doctor Who? Everyone always asks me that yet _you_ didn't. Anyway. Yes it's your watch. It landed in my TARDIS here with Loki somewhere around the Crab Peninsula, I wasn't really paying attention because there was a malfunctioning flux fractal corrector, which I was fixing whilst simultaneously receiving a call from the President of the United States. Not the current. The one who had the scandal- ah but that's tangential. We tracked the owner of the watch down and well here you are. Oh and when the watch arrived it was already aged. So have you seen your original watch or has it not been stolen yet?'

'No, I was in all day and it was attached to my waistcoat. I only noticed its absence when Loki arrived. No one entered or left the flat today,' Sherlock was still oiling all of the cogs inside his brain. His mind was whirring like a bumblebees wings.

'Like I supposed. Timey-wimey. Watch disappears into thin air, which is not impossible according to quantum physics. Reappears two hundred years-'

'-and three failed attempts at ruling the human race later-' Loki sighed

'Two hundred years later in my TARDIS. Mystery solved. Must have been a bit bashed around in the teleportation as I had my shield up, which now has a watch sized hole in it-'

'-and a handsomely crafted godly-shaped hole with attached horns through it too-' Loki muttered.

'Must have been going at quite some speed for the watch to make such a hole. So that's that Mr Holmes and all is well that ends well. Watch might need a new mechanism in it though. It doesn't wind up anymore. In fact I have just the thing to fix it.'

The Doctor ruffled around in his pocket for a few seconds before pulling out what he proudly explained to Sherlock as a 'sonic screwdriver' before asking him to pass his watch over and zapping it with the offending object. Sherlock was grateful when the watch began to tick again.

'Thank you Doctor and thank you for taking the time to bring it back to me.' Sherlock nodded, shaking his hand profusely.

'You can come with me if you like. Anywhere in time and space?' The Doctor enthused opening the door of the TARDIS and allowing Sherlock to see just how large its interior was. He was flabbergasted and yet amazed in the most wonderful possible way.

'I think 1800s England needs me more Doctor but I appreciate your offer. Call into Baker Street anytime you happen to pass by, on the proviso that I'm still alive when you call.'

'Loki?' The Doctor glanced over.

'I am happy to announce that I am more than experienced at travelling through space and time and I need some more time to plague Sherlock here. Sorry. I meant 'observe his work'. That is if he acquiesces?' Loki turned toward Sherlock, who held his gaze for a long time before letting out a rare smile and nodding.

'Guess my work here is done. Nice to meet you. I'll be back in about ten to twenty years. Who knows? But I will be round Sherlock. See you Loki.' The Doctor grinned and waved enthusiastically as if hoping for one last time that he could convert the two sociopaths, before vworrping into thin air, leaving both Loki and Sherlock staring at the space in which it had been.

'So…Professor Moriarty?' Loki smiled.

'What about him?' Sherlock snapped but stopped when he saw that Loki's form had been replaced by an exact replica of Moriarty.

'I am he. Or rather he is my own invention. I needed an intellectual rival. My realm is devoid of people with brains such as quick as ours. You have provided me with much entertainment and puzzles over the years, Holmes, but I fear our time has come to separate. I have worlds who need to be ruled by someone capable. Someone like me.' Loki grinned devilishly.

'No! But surely…I knew your voice was familiar. I should have recognised your manner straight away! You can't just leave!' Sherlock roared.

'Not getting sentimental over an old rival are you? Though I will miss your bumbling antics. I may appear occasionally to checkmate you when I need the boost.' Loki laughed, transforming back into himself.

'I'm afraid it is I who will checkmate you. You stole the watch so you could tell me this.' Sherlock stated.

'Bravo. See already I am keeping you on your toes and already you are at the penultimate hurdle when I am at the finish line. I'll leave the case of why and how I landed into the TARDIS for you to solve. Oh and do lock your windows, anyone could get in.

'I look forward to any future collisions we may have. Before I forget, just so you're not in mourning for too long, I know how you fester without a challenge or company to keep you from injury; tomorrow someone will approach you about a John Watson needing a roommate. Accept it. He'll do you good.' With those final words and a wicked glint in his eye Loki was gone.

'Blast it and damn you, Loki.' Sherlock shouted before forlornly making his way back to Baker Street.

Upon his arrival back at 221B Sherlock found a new watch and chain waiting on the mantelpiece. There was a note attached. It read:

_Be prepared. The game is on._


End file.
